Conquering the Land (Campaign 3: The South)

Where are we at in our progress towards catalysing Movements across the UK? Where are we at in the Promise Land battles?

Our mission here in the UK is to mobilise Movement Planters and Disciple Makers in the 12 Regions of Britain and Ireland to launch Kingdom Movements; reproducing disciples, leaders, churches and networks made up of new people coming to Christ!

This will take many Pioneers, Travelling Workers, Mission Agencies and Churches working together towards this common cause (see more here)

This article is part of a series of articles looking at what we can learn for Mission Britainfrom Joshua; the leader of the Israelites (as recounted in the Book of Joshua in the Bible) as they engaged in their conquest of the whole land of Canaan (The Land of Promise)

Joshua, in the Old Testament conquered the Promise Land in stages. The campaigns were divided into the conquest of the East (of the River Jordan), West, South and North whilst the army camped at Gilgal as their base. In England, as in most nations, there is a historical North/South Divide. There will be differences in approach between conquering the North and the South! This article will look briefly at principles relating to Israel’s Southern Campaign and how we can launch movements in the south in our time;

‘Joshua conquered all these kings and their land in a single campaign, for the LORD, the God of Israel, was fighting for his people. Then Joshua and the Israelite army, returned to their camp at Gilgal’ (Joshua 10:42-43)

Joshua 10 recounts Israel’s defeat of the Southern Kings and their towns in a single campaign! But how did they do so?

CONQUERING THE SOUTHERN KINGS

Israel’s enemy King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem (his name means ‘Lord of Justice/Righteousness’) sent messengers to several other kings urging them; ‘come and help me destroy Gibeon for they have made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel’.

These were the kings he sent messages to…

King Hoham of Hebron (his name means ‘whom Jehovah incites or stirs up’)

These 5 Amorite Kings joined forces for a united attack against Joshua and his army. They moved all their troops into place and attacked the town of Gibeon (Israel’s new ally from Joshua 9)

During this southern battle against the united Amorites, where even the sun stood still at Joshua’s request, the Five Southern Kings escaped and hid in the Cave at Makkedah (Joshua 10:16-27)

‘When Joshua heard that they had been found, he issued this command: ‘Cover the opening of the cave with large rocks, and place guards at the entrance to keep the kings inside. The rest of you continue chasing the enemy and cut them down from the rear. Don’t give them a chance to get back to their towns, for the LORD your God has given you victory over them’ (Joshua 10:16-19)

CONQUERING THE SOUTHERN TOWNS

With these 5 kings trapped in the Cave of Makkedah, Israel conquers their southern towns in a single campaign; the name of each town mentioned in the scriptural account has a prophetic meaning (as recounted in Joshua 10:28-43);

-Town of Makkedah: meaning place of shepherds (incidentally, Makkadah; the cave of shepherds is where the 5 kings of the Amorites hid- don’t hide from the battle in the cave behind shepherds!)

At the town of Lachish during the battle, King Horam of Gezer arrived.

Horam means ‘their hill, height or tower up’, the name Horam is interchangeable with Hiram or Elam. Hiram means ‘exaltation of life, a destroyer’, ‘exalted brother’ and ‘the master workman or craftsman’. Hiram was also the name of the King of Tyre. Elam means ‘eternity, forever’ and ‘hidden’

and Gezermeans ‘portion, divide, sentence, to cut’

So at the Town of Lachish, which means ‘impregnable’ and ‘obstinate’, King Horam arrived who is an exalted destroyer and master craftsman (the enemy had really upped their game!)

-Town of Hebron: meaning League or association, society, friendship. ‘The Hebrew Place’– a places where we learn to relate to people not on the basis of what they do for us but in recognition of God’s work in bringing us together

-Town of Debir: meaning ‘back’ or ‘an orator’ or ‘a word’, also, ‘city of books’, ‘city of palm’- the town was thought to be perhaps the site of a temple, sanctuary, place of oracle or speech. It was one of the cities given with their suburbs after conquest to the levitical priests and is situated near the‘valley of achor’ [trouble] that became a ‘place of springs’.It seems to have been some kind of sacred place amongst the canaanites, a city of literature, a town of scribes

Conquering the South in the Opposite Spirit…

So to Conquer the South we come in the opposite spirit to the ruling principalities and powers in the Spiritual Realm…

We don’t shrink back in fear, hiding in the place of false shepherds who refuse to obey God or submit to his authority. In Britain right now, spiritually speaking, it is a time for war, not peace. In time of battle- we need to be strong and courageous in order to take the land! As God said to his commander, Joshua, ‘have I not commanded you, only be strong and very courageous.’ (Joshua 1:9)

We take the South through purity (not unclean), humility and meekness (not proud, obstinate and arrogant), through temperance (not greedy fat cows), friendship and forming associations (the opposite of an independent spirit or going it alone), by meditating on scripture day and night and every word that comes from the mouth of God (not the wisdom of this earth which is foolish to God)

It’s interesting that 5 Kings who were in alliance with one another had to be overcome (trapped in a cave) in order to conquer that region. This may point to the need for 5-Fold Ministries to come together in alliance to launch Kingdom Movements that conquer enemy territory today! See this article for more on this!

LEARNING FOR THE BATTLE AHEAD

We continue to put into practice these principles in our own nation through Mission Britain with a league of unusual people from multiple organisations, tribes and networks

Our Collective Vision continues to be the discipling of a nation (Britain) and the emergence and development of Kingdom Movements of reproducing disciples, leaders, churches and tribal networks in and across the 12 Regions of Britain, the 70+ Counties and the 500+ Westminster Constituencies…

Teams begin with Pioneer Mission and Church Planting Movementsprinciples of various kinds (T4T, DBS, 4 Fields, Last Reformation and so on, to get the job done on the ground- if you would like to join a mission training experience where you can learn on the job- CLICK HERE)